Borrowing and Lending
In Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Moses instructs the Israelites to pass their faith to the next generation.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
This is a model of side-by-side sharing of faith while at home, while going places, from early morning to late evening, using reminders and intentional efforts to impress the knowledge and wisdom of God on the children of the household. This is living life together and living your faith intentionally with and in front of children. This isn’t about perfection or pinterest. It’s describing a way of living.
This side-by-side living out of the daily necessities of life paints a very different picture from the way of life in 2026. Families are not gathering crops from a field, making their own clothes, or walking to get water! We have to take what Moses was saying and figure out what that means for a busy family right now. And that’s what Relay Exchange moms are doing every month: you are carving out time to live your faith alongside your girls. You are showing them what it looks like to invest in friendships and create community, to learn and grow through practical life skills, to have fun together and to follow Jesus together.
Relay Exchange groups not only create space for connecting mothers and daughters, they also create space for experiencing and connecting with God and for connecting with other members in the group. Groups create a community of the body of Christ. As members of this community, we are part of a shared faith, and at times we need to be ready to lend our faith to one another.
In 2 Kings 6, the king of Aram is at war with the nation of Israel, but every time the king of Aram plans an attack, the prophet Elisha warns the king of Israel so that the Israelites have advance warning of Aram’s plans. When the king of Aram found out it was Elisha who was thwarting his attacks, he sent men to capture him.
Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.
2 Kings 6:14-18 NIV
Understandably, when the servant saw the horses and chariots of Aram surrounding the city, he was afraid. But Elisha prayed that the Lord would open his eyes to see the hills full of horses and chariots of fire. What a picture of God’s protection! Life can be difficult, leading us to feel overwhelmed and afraid. When that happens, you need a community who will pray that God opens your eyes to his perfect protection and provision. Note that in the story, the chariots did not enter a battle that day. Instead, God struck the army blind and they were peacefully led out of the city. The chariots were there to remind Elisha and his servant of God’s providence and protection. Sometimes we are Elisha for our friends, and sometimes we are the servant in need of prayers for vision, but we are always surrounded with God’s providential goodness and power.
When we cannot see for ourselves, we borrow one another’s faith until we see the chariots of fire surrounding us.